Glyceria striata
Glyceria fluitans
fowl manna grass, glycerie striee, ridged glyceria, ridged manna grass
floating mannagrass, floating sweet-grass, glycerie flottante, water manna grass
20-80 (100) cm tall, (1.5)2-3.5 mm thick, not or only slightly spongy, sometimes rooting at the lower nodes.
20-150 cm tall, 2-4 mm thick, erect or spreading, sometimes decumbent and rooting from the lower nodes, distal portion sometimes floating in shallow water.
smooth to scabridulous, keeled, sometimes weakly so;
ligules 1-4 mm, usually rounded, sometimes acute to mucronate, erose-lacerate;
blades 12-30 cm long, 2-6 mm wide, abaxial surfaces smooth or scabridulous, adaxial surfaces scabridulous to scabrous.
glabrous, keeled;
ligules 5-15 mm;
blades 5-25 cm long, 3-10 mm wide, both surfaces smooth.
6-25 cm long, 2.5-21 cm wide, pyramidal, open, nodding;
branches 5-13 cm, straight to lax, lower branches usually strongly divergent to drooping at maturity, sometimes ascending, with 15-50 spikelets, these often confined to the distal 2/3;
pedicels 0.5-7 mm.
10-50 cm long, 2-3 cm wide;
branches 3-5 cm, paired or solitary, usually appressed to ascending, divergent at anthesis, with 1-4 spikelets;
pedicels 0.8-20 mm.
1.8-4 mm long, 1.2-2.9 mm wide, laterally compressed, oval in side view, with 3-7 florets.
(15)18-39 mm long, 1.7-3.3 mm wide, cylindrical and terete, except slightly laterally compressed at anthesis, rectangular in side view, with 8-16 florets.
ovate, 1-1.5 times longer than wide, narrowing from midlength or above, veins terminating below the apical margins, apices often splitting with age;
lower glumes 0.5-1.2 mm, rounded to obtuse;
upper glumes 0.6-1.2 mm, acute or rounded;
rachilla internodes 0.1-0.6 mm;
lemmas 1.2-2 mm, ovate in dorsal view, veins raised, scabridulous over and between the veins, apices acute, prow-shaped;
paleas slightly shorter than to equaling the lemmas, lengths 1.5-3 times widths, keeled, keels not winged, tips pointing towards each other, apices narrowly notched between the keels;
anthers 2, (0.2)0.4-0.6 mm, purple or yellow.
1.3-3.9 mm;
upper glumes 2.7-5 mm;
rachilla internodes 1.9-2.5 mm;
lemmas 5.2-8 mm, midveins extending to within 0.1 mm of the apical margins, scabrous over and between the veins, prickles about 0.05 mm, apices acute, usually entire;
paleas from shorter than to 0.6(1.5) mm longer than the lemmas, keels winged, apices bifid, teeth 0.1-0.4 mm, parallel to convergent, sometimes crossing when dry;
anthers 1.5-3 mm, usually purple.
0.5-2 mm.
2-3 mm.
= 20 [reports of 28 are questionable].
= 40.
Glyceria striata
Glyceria fluitans
Glyceria striata grows in bogs, along lakes and streams, and in other wet places. Its range extends from Alaska to Newfoundland and south into Mexico. Plants from the eastern portion of the range have sometimes been treated as G. striata var. striata, and those from the west as G. striata var. stricta (Scribn.) Fernald. Eastern plants tend to have somewhat narrower leaves and thinner culms than western plants, but the variation appears continuous. In the west, larger specimens are easy to confuse with G. elata. The two species are sometimes found growing together without hybridizing; this and molecular data (Whipple et al. [in prep.]) support their recognition as separate species. The differences between the two in growth habit and stature are evident in the field; they are not always evident on herbarium specimens. In its overall aspect, G. striata also resembles G. pulchella, but it has somewhat more lax panicle branches in addition to smaller spikelets and florets.
Glyceria xgatineauensis Bowden is a sterile hybrid between G. striata and G. melicaria. It resembles G. melicaria but has longer (up to 12 cm), less appressed panicle branches and is a triploid with 2n = 30. It was described from a population near Eardley, Quebec. An additional specimen, tentatively identified as G. xgatineauensis, was collected in 1929 from French Creek in Upshur County, West Virginia.
Glyceria xottawensis Bowden is a sterile hybrid between G. striata and G. canadensis. It is intermediate between the two parents, and is known only from the original populations near Ottawa. It has sometimes been included in G. xlaxa (Scribn.) Scribn. [=G. canadensis var. laxa]; that taxon often produces viable seed, indicating that it is not a hybrid.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Glyceria fluitans is a Eurasian species. In the Americas, it has been collected from British Columbia to California on the west coast, in South Dakota, and from Newfoundland to Pennsylvania on the eastern seaboard. In Europe, it grows in rich, organic, wet soils, often near G. notata, with which it hybridizes. It is less tolerant of trampling than G. notata. Many earlier reports from eastern Canada are based on G. borealis or G. septentrionalis (Dore and McNeill 1980; Scoggan 1978). In western North America, it has been confused with G. xoccidentalis. It tends to differ from all three in its longer lemmas and anthers. Nevertheless, identification of some specimens will prove troublesome. For further discussion, see under the species mentioned.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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- Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA
- Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, Go Botany, MD Biodiversity, PNW Herbaria
- WildflowerSearch
- iNaturalist (observations)
- USDA Plants Database
- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
